Unlocking Your True Potential
by Monota Anthropina
Summary: Just a Random Idea I had. AU Bleach Story featuring an OC. Probably just a One-Shot.


AN: Just a random Idea I had and thought I'd put up. It's my first story, so I'm not sure if it's all that good. Please and rate and review.

The stale, dust filled air of the Karakura Public Library's basement filled Yuki's lungs as she stepped out of the Senkaimon, the ancient paper gates quickly shutting behind her just as quickly as they had the first day they had been made. Up above, Yuki could hear the sounds of a lecture echoing through the ancient stone foundations of the building, the lecturers words reverberating in Yuki's ears as she calmly began to weave through the mass of fallen support stones and wooden riggings that had once held up the weight of the fortress that had stood in the center of the city some 700 years ago. This was to be her final assignment from the Fourth Division, given to her personally from Captain Karahashi himself. It was a sort of "Going Away" gift, if you will. She was to enter an ancient fortress, long buried underneath the ever growing mass of Karakura Town, and retrieve something from the ruins depths, although what specifically she did not know. _Perhaps I should read the note Captain Karahashi gave me before I left..._ The thought had crossed her mind more than once as she had crossed over through the Dangai, but she had resisted her natural curiosity, mostly because of the fact that she had not been given a Hell Butterfly for this Mission, and had to hurry through the often dangerous Dangai Precipice World without its protection. But now...

Now she was alone, near the abandoned ruins of an ancient castle buried several dozen feet of solid rock and earth, with nothing and no one around to stop her from reading it. Stopping her calm forwards movement just in front of a large, termite infested beam, Yuki reached into the left side of her Shihakushō, easily pulling out the small, folded piece of paper that Captain Karahashi had given her. running her fingers across the smooth seal, Yuki gently peeled back the dark red wax, her hands deftly opening the letter with a practiced speed that showed just how many times she had done such a thing before. A pair of bright, Aqua colored eyes ran back and forth across the surface of the paper, the inked words unintentionally spewing forth from Yuki's mouth as she read them, her confusion evident in the way her voice rapidly changed its volume, slowly lowering from that of an average speaking volume, down to a nearly impossible to hear whisper. "True immortality is nothing more than a myth. A legend, created by those who are weak in order ensnare the failing minds of those who lord over them into believing they can have their absolute power forever. But, for those who search hard enough, those rare few whose entire lives are spent devoted to the singular goal of achieving Immortality, a sort of facsimile can be created, an echo of an echo of what their true desire is. Your goal, Miss Saigawa, is to find this facsimile, and if possible, bring it back to us in one piece. If you cannot, record as much data about it as you can, and then destroy it. Your Senkaimon will reopen in the exact place it dropped you off 6 hours from now, and will re-open itself once every hour after that until you have returned, or until 18 hours has passed, at which time you will be pronounced dead. Sincerely, Captain Mitsutaka Karahashi..."

Staring down at the piece of paper, Yuki's face contorted itself through a gambit of emotions, ranging from rage, to confusion, then back to rage, to sadness, to (strangely enough) happiness, and finally settling on a strange mixture of anger, confusion, and joy. Shaking her head as she read through the letter once more, Yuki noted a diagram in the bottom right corner, the layout of it similar to the basements, but with a single wall circled. Taking a step back, Yuki's body bent gracefully so that she could sit on the moss covered stone she had stepped over not a minute before hand. _What kind of mission is this? And what did that first part even mean?_ With a sigh, Yuki folded up the letter, placing it back into the hidden pocket in her Shihakushō, her mind swimming with ideas and speculations as she tried to decipher the meaning behind the mysterious words contained within her orders. Minutes passed without incident, and, with a huff of annoyance, Yuki stood up, her obviously perturbed voice ringing across the empty ruins as she spoke to herself. "I always get the weird missions..." Pushing off of the ground, Yuki began a much quicker run through the debris covered basement, her eyes scanning the ground for any sort of clues as to the whereabouts of this "Facsimile", the Aqua orbs moving rapidly from one side of the room to the other as she closed in on the opposite wall of the basement, the space in which she could feasibly run growing shorter and shorter by the second.

Not that Yuki was worried of crashing into the wall, of course. In fact, that was partially her goal, seeing as the wall had been circled in the diagram was the smallest one of the four she could see, which, when combined with the fact that it was covered with the same type of moss as the stone she has just sat on, lead Yuki to believe that it was the wall circled in the diagram, and, therefore, likely the entrance to the ruins. _Or, at least, I hope it is. Otherwise... This is gonna hurt. A lot._ With only ten feet separating her and the wall, Yuki increased her speed, entering into a low level Shunpo in order to propel herself forwards into the wall, negating any chances of hesitating and possibly causing more injury to herself than was necessary. Five feet to the wall, and Yuki's right hand came up, palm flat and vertical as she concentrated a small amount of her own Spiritual Energy within the center of her palm, the energy condensing itself repeatedly, the friction created by the rapidly shrinking ball of energy causing it to ignite into a burning ball of pale blue fire. 3 feet from the wall. Yuki's mouth opens, the beginnings of a Kido spell forming in her throat as she hurtled towards the wall in front of her. Two feet from the wall. Yuki's mouth unleashes the words needed to finish the Kido Spell, the burning ball of azure Spiritual energy accelerating forwards at a rapid pace, easily outpacing Yuki, even in her Shunpo. "Hado #33: Sokatsui!"

One foot to the wall. The azure Hado spell collides with the wall, meeting rock solid concrete and weakened 700 year old stone with enough force to shake the very foundations of the building, blasting a hole large enough for Yuki to speed straight through unhindered. In an instant, Yuki was through the wall, her Shunpo step having ended just a few feet from the hole she had blasted into it with her Sokatsui spell. Before her was a small corridor, about ten feet long and five feet wide, with a ceiling that was, by her estimation, about 8 or nine feet tall. Several small puddles of water covered the floor, and a variety of cobwebs, ranging from the small to the incredibly massive, stretched across the ceiling and down to the floor. Her Sokatsui had managed to take care of the largest ones, which had somehow managed to make a large barrier of sort at the end of the tunnel. _Well, that went better than I expected. Now, I just have to find this... facsimile, wherever it is, and get the hell out of here._ Taking a step forwards, Yuki felt a wave of... something wash over her, and for briefest of seconds, every fiber of her being screamed at her to turn around and flee back to where she had come from.

But, just as suddenly as it had come, the feeling left, and Yuki warily continued onwards, her right hand pulling her Zanpakuto out from its hiding spot in her left sleeve. Reaching the end of the small corridor, Yuki looked to her left, her Aqua eyes eyes, looking for an exit, instead found themselves taking in the ancient Japanese workmanship that had held the walls of the ruin up against the crushing weight of both building above it, as well as dozens upon dozens of feet of earth in the section that weren't covered by buildings. Placing her hand on the wall as she looked to her left, Yuki felt the smoothness of the stone, noting that, unlike the moss covered, broken rocks that had made up the corridor she had just been in, these rocks were devoid of moss, and in almost perfect condition. Turning back around, Yuki examined the stones in the corridor once more, and then the ones on the wall in front of her, the difference between the two clear. Something was definitely wrong. "Something is off about this place... These stones.., they're in far better condition than they should be for how old they are. It's almost as if..."

It was almost as if someone had come through the ruins recently and replaced all of the old stones with new ones. _Or, somes been here all along and has been keeping them well preserved this entire time... That certainly would explain why Captain Karahashi wrote those strange words in my orders... But immortality? That seems so unlike him... Something definitely off about this whole thing. The weird orders, the strange location, that ever present sense of foreboding... It's almost as if I'm in one of those Fantasy games that Humans play._ Turning her herself away from the wall on her left, Yuki began to walk down the corridor that had been behind her before, leaving the entrance to the ruins behind as she sprinted down the hall, her feet a blur as she rounded another corner on the other side, the corridor expanding into a massive cavern that stretched out hundreds of feet before her, and was almost fifty feet in depth, although she could not determine the exact depth, since most, if not all, of the bottom half was completely covered in water. To her left, Yuki could see a winding path that would take safely around the underground lake, although it was frighteningly exposed. _Anyone with good enough aim and something to hit me with could easily catch me by surprise and knock me off the path... Oh what am I thinking? There is __no one__ here! I can't sense any Reiatsu, and even if there is something here that I can't sense, it's not like it'll be able to see me. I need to stop being such a wuss._

Although... looking down at the near fifty foot drop to the water below, Yuki let out an instinctual sigh, her cautious instincts over riding her sense of adventure just enough to make her focus on a specific spell, one that would, hopefully, conceal her presence enough so that she could safely cross the path without incident. Placing her right hand on her chest, Yuki began to mutter the words to one of the few Bakudo she knew, pouring out Spiritual Energy from every part of her body as she did so, focusing it into a thin sheet that wrapped around her body, the words of the Incantation focusing the Reiryoku even more, until it became so thin and compressed that it worked almost like a mirror, bend any light that would have struck Yuki away from her, essentially making her invisible. It also held the secondary function of partially concealing her Reiatsu, but, considering how unlikely it was that any type of Hollow or spiritually aware Human was down here, it was an, admittedly, unnecessary precaution. _At least, I hope it is._ With a sigh, Yuki opened her mouth, whispering the final words to the incantation, the spell settling down onto her body just as the sound of an un-oiled door being forced open screamed through her ears.

With a start, Yuki's eyes frantically searched for the source of the sound, her right hand gripping the hilt of her Zanpakuto tighter and tighter as she slowly backed away from the edge of the small path she was on. Where was it? Where? Scrunching her eyelids together, Yuki focused her attention forwards, doing her best to make out what was on the other end of the cavern, her eyes barely able to make out three blurry shapes across the way. In an instant, they were on the move, each of them running along the path she would have walked across had they not appeared, their pace slow but obviously hurried as the trio quickly wound their way along the path, their forms growing clearer and clear the closer they became. _What in the hell... how can there be people here? This place is supposed to be an ancient ruin. There should be no way normal people can get down here..._ But then again, this group of people weren't exactly acting normal. Yuki could clearly make out their forms now, although they were still a ways away from her. The group appeared to consist of three men, all of whom looked remarkably similar in terms of height and overall body build (although that was rarely an indicator of how strong someone was), tall and skinny, with long hair that reached down to their backs, and pale, almost grey skin. Their actual physical appearance, however, were very different from one another. The first one, whom Yuki dubbed "Goon A", wore very little on his torso, which exposed his incredibly shrunken chest to the world, given that he was, at the very least, malnourished, if not close to starvation. His lower regions were covered by what appeared to be some form of skirt, which seemed to be made of an old, almost rotten type of animal skin, interlaced with iron bands. He carried in his right hand some type of stick, similar in length and appearance to a tonfa, but without the handle, and carrying a large, white, stone like protrusion, giving it an appearance of that of hastily cobbled together mace.

The second man wore a tad bit more on his torso than the first, his chest being covered by two leather straps that arched across his body in an "X" formation, although he lacked quite a bit in terms of proper clothing in his lower bodily region, wearing only a simple loincloth. This one, however, also carried what appeared to be a small weapon in his right hand, similar in both size and shape to a Wakizashi, but with a strange, incredibly long chain of various types of white stones attached to the end, with a final, larger white stone, similar to the one on the first mans mace, attached to the end. The chain was wrapped around his waist like a belt. He too looked as if he had not eaten in weeks, if not longer, although he seemed to have no trouble moving, much like his other compatriot. The third man, whom she labeled "Goon C", however, looked much different from his two companions, at least in terms of his clothing. He wore what appeared to be several pieces of leather draped around his body in an armor like, on top of which was attached very worn look iron bands the further enhanced the idea that he was wearing some type of armor, although Yuki couldn't quite pinpoint the type, seeing as it was made using a mixture of ancient Japanese traditions and some slightly more modern western styles. His lower region, including his feet, was also covered in similar armor, although there were gaps at the joints in order to facilitate a better range of motion. His head, much like the others, was not covered by anything, and, also like the others, he carried some type of strange weapon, in his case, a Daikatana, which he held in both of his hands. The blade had several unusual alterations to its flat end, which brought it up in sweeping curves, which gradually grew smaller and smaller until it reached the halfway point on the weapon, where they abruptly stopped.

_That one looks to be the leader... I wonder why they're out here though? They couldn't have heard me breaking through the wall, this place is so big the sound would have just faded away before they ever reached the door. Although... I guess they could have heard me, if they were close enough to the other side of that wall. Yeah, that has to be it. They're are just coming to investigate what made all of that racket earlier. Probably hoping for a way out of here too, since they look like they haven't eaten in weeks, or longer._ Satisfied with her own reasoning, Yuki took in a deep breath of air, her arms and legs still shaking somewhat from the sudden opening of the door, as well as the appearance of the three weapon wielding men. Then, with a deep exhale of breath, Yuki began to walk towards the trio of men, confident in both the fact that the men wouldn't' be able to see her under ideal circumstances, and even if they could sense her, the Kyokko she had cast would keep her hidden enough to be able to sneak past them without any problems. So, moving forwards with the confidence that she would be perfectly fine, Yuki quickly made her way around the semicircular path, her Zanpakuto still in hand as she neared the three men, who had stopped at the halfway point of the path, which had widened considerably from the narrow, treacherously small sliver of earth it had been earlier into a much wider, but still small, ten foot wide crossing. It seemed as if whoever had at least thought of the fact that people could, and would, cross from both sides, and as such had created a wider area in the middle, to allow for multiple people to stand aside as other crossed from the opposite way.

As Yuki neared the halfway mark of the path, she began to be able to make out more details of the men in question. She could see the finely crafted details in their armor, and the porous, almost bone like structure that made up Goon B's chain links. She could see a similar porousness in the white stone bludgeon that Goon A carried, and, with further scrutinizing, Yuki realized that the "stone" links that made up Goon B's chain weren't stone at all. They were bones. Human bones. And the weighted stones at the end of Goon A's mace and Goon B's chain weren't stones either. They were skulls. Human skulls. A wave of sheer, unabated terror wasted over Yuki as she realized this fact, her instantly coming to a stop right in the middle of the path as the three men neared, their forms moving much quicker than they had before. _Oh dear God those are human bones. That means they had to kill someone and strip off their flesh to get them. Multiple someones, if the massive length of that one's chain is any indication. This is bad. This is very very bad. I need to find whatever the hell it is I'm looking for and get out of here, before my Kyokko spell wears off._ With a grunt of effort, Yuki willed her legs to move forwards, forcing down the terror she felt through sheer willpower, her mind racing as the three men entered the crossing, Goon C suddenly stopping, his mouth opening to utter a single, garbled sentence in a language Yuki didn't understand. His right arm came up, a withered index finger pointing directly at Yuki, his message suddenly becoming clear. They knew where she was. They were going to attack her. They were going to kill her.

Instinctively, Yuki let the Kyokko spell drop, her right hand bringing her Zanpakuto up to waist height in a basic fighting stance that was made to serve both offensive and defensive styles. A moment of silence echoed through the cavern as Yuki let out deep breaths, doing her best calm her nerves before the fight began. By the time Yuki had let out her sixth powerful exhale, Goon's A & B moved, Goon C, the obviously leader, waiting at the edge of the crossing for the fight to be over, obviously confident in his subordinates ability to handle her. _I will not let them take me. I will not let them kill me. I will not let them touch me. they will not touch me, no matter what they do._ Her resolve hardened, Yuki let one final breath before the two men came within striking distance, and then, with a burst of speed, she rushed forwards and to the left, her speed surprising the admittedly slow Goon A, but only for a moment. Bringing his mace up into the air, Goon A brought the bludgeoning instrument down to bear at Yuki, hoping to impact her skull with the weapon and pulverize it into hundreds of tiny pieces. Yuki, however, was not about to let that happen, and, twisting her right arm so that her sword was placed directly within the path of Goon A's mace, Yuki braced herself, the impact of Goon A's attack going straight through her, threatening to knock her sword right out of her hand. But her grip held, and, with a counter clockwise spin, Yuki used the man's own strength against him, ripping the Mace out from his grip, the weapon having been wedge onto her sword by the force of the man's attack. Out of the corner of her eye, Yuki noticed just in time that Goon B was thrusting his rusted Wakizashi blade towards her, his intent to cut into her throat both obvious and deadly.

Reacting to the new attack with haste, Yuki continued with her spin, her battle instincts having kicked in as she twisted her sword in order to meet the new threat with the old one, Goon B's thrust colliding midway with Goon A's wedged Mace, the two weapons clanging to the ground as a shocked Goon B reached for the bone chain on his waist, intent on retrieving his weapon by utilizing its long range capabilities. _If he gets that chain out to its full length I'm done for. I've got to take him out now, before he can get any farther than he already has._ Taking a step forwards as she continued with her spin, Yuki's body contorted in the air, her left arm crossing over her body into order to point towards Goon B's chest, the man still occupied with removing the chain from around his waist. Curling her fist into a ball, Yuki pointed her left index finger at the man just as she came to face Goon C, her mouth whispering the name of a Hado, Reiryoku condensing into a tiny ball at the tip of her finger, the roiling mass of Spirit Energy sparking with electricity as she called out the name of the spell. "Hado #4: Byakurai!" Instantly, a bolt of white hot lightning blasted towards Goon B, the spell crossing the distance between its caster and its target faster than anything the three men had ever seen, impact into Goon B's chest with enough force to knock him over the edge of the crossing, causing him to plummet into the water below. The sheer heat of the attack had melted his ribcage, killing him almost instantaneously, but leaving a massive hole trough with large amount of blood would spill out, coloring his watery grave a dark, dull red.

This, however, was not the end of Yuki's attack. With a great effort, Yuki entered into a low level Shunpo just as the momentum of her spin began to force her body to turn back towards Goon A, who was too shocked at the events that had just transpired before him to notice a small black blur rushing towards him until it was too late to anything. Yuki's sword came across the man's neck, cutting his head clean off, the blood vessels in his neck squirting blood up across the walls and onto the floor, some of it even getting on Yuki as she flicked her blade clean, her blood covered face turning to meet the eyes of Goon C, who had lost the smug confidence of before, his hands trembling with rage as he pointed his strange black blade at Yuki. _This one isn't going to be so easy to kill. His armor is more than likely going to block my sword strikes, and he'll probably stay very close in order to avoid my Kido spells. I'll have to be patient and wait for an opening, or he'll just chop me to pieces with that sword of his._ Turning to face her third, and hopefully final adversary, Yuki once more took a basic stance, with her sword held up at her waist, the blades sharpened end facing Goon C as she waited for him to attack.

And attack he did. Uttering a guttural scream, Goon C rushed forwards, both hands on his blade as he brought it around horizontally in a vicious slash meant to cut off Yuki's head, much as she had done to Goon A. Rolling forwards underneath the attack, Yuki brought her blade up in a simple but highly effective attack, doing her best to cut off the man's right leg, or, at the very least, cut through his thigh and possibly slow him down enough to finish him off without any trouble. Luck, however, was not on her side this time, attested by the fact that Yuki's attack bounced harmlessly off of the man's armor, who quickly reacted with a painful kick to the arms that send Yuki flying to the other end of the crossing. _Damn, but he is strong! He nearly kicked my arms right out of their sockets with that one. Blocking his strikes isn't going to work. If I try that he's liable to just cut right through my sword and kill me. I'll just have to keep dodging his attacks, and hope I can catch him off guard with a strike that hits one of his unprotected areas._ Taking the same basic stance as she had before, Yuki took in a deep breath, her arms relaxing even as she tightened her grip on her Zanpakuto. Then, within a second, the melee began again. Minutes passed as the two warriors fought, the sound of blades clashing together ringing throughout the cavern as two utterly different styles of combat clashed, one the epitome of efficiency, each strike only made when the chances of disabling the opponent were high, while the other relying on sheer brute force to overwhelm and overpower anyone in it's way.

And slowly, as the minutes ticked by, one side began to win out over the other. A collection of cuts, gashes, nicks, and bruises and begun to form all across Yuki's body, the scars of multiple close shaves and nearly missed strikes that had, over the course of the battle, taken their toll on the young woman. Her breaths came in labored groups, her arms and legs, which had once moved fast enough to match the overwhelming force of Goon C's blows were slowing. Her legs were shaking uncontrollably, and the multiple gashes across her body were pumping out her lifeblood faster and faster as the adrenaline from the fight forced her heart into overdrive. Yuki could feel it. She was dying. Bringing her sword up to parry yet another of the man's attacks, Yuki was once again sent flying to the other side of the crossing, her body landing in a heap as she gasped for air. She couldn't move. _I have to... I have to... to find... a way... to beat him. There has to be a way. I have to get up. I have to.._ She could hear the clanks of the man's footsteps as he approached. They sounded like the peals of a bell. A funeral bell. Her, funeral bell. With an exhale of breath, Yuki turned onto her back, her mind fuzzy as her executioner lorded over her, his black blade sitting comfortably on his right shoulder. He was going to kill her soon. She could hear the voices of the dead calling to her. A man and a woman. Could it be? Was it her parents? Would she finally be reunited with them? With Adam? Focusing what remained of her fragile life, Yuki strained to hear what the voices were saying.

Who was speaking to her? It wasn't her parents. No, it couldn't be. She hadn't seen them in centuries. But who then, if not them? Focusing even more, Yuki let out a single gasp in surprise as the voices suddenly became clear. It was not her parents. It was her Zanpakuto Spirits. They were screaming at her, together, in unison. But what were they saying? She barely hear them... And then, she heard it. Through the torrent of pain of fear, Yuki heard their message. "Unleashing our power" they said. "Unleashing it, and tear this feeble construct asunder so that we live!" Gripping tightly onto her Zanpakuto, Yuki opened her mouth one final time as her executioner's blade came swinging down, uttering a single sentence that turned the fabricated world of the Fourth Divisions newest simulated missions area into a cloud of multi colored Reishi particles."Spread your wings, Yousei Ryu no Kiba!"

And then everything went black.


End file.
